Workforce and Retiree Demographics Will Shift as Boomers Age

Many Boomers are unable to retire as anticipated, the
study shows, due to several possible reasons, including: debt from putting their children
through college, borrowing against their homes and, in many cases,
second home ownership. Since they expect to live longer than their
predecessors, they fear outliving their savings, and their financial
nest eggs have been severely impacted by the economic downturn. In
addition, their family finances have also
been stretched by the fact that one in four have adult children still
living with them.

The report, “The MetLife Report on Early Boomers: How
America’s Leading Edge Baby Boomers Will Transform Aging, Work &
Retirement,” also notes that in the past, about three-quarters of men and
women would be fully retired within four to five years from their 65th
birthday. But by the time the first Early Boomers approach age 70,
fewer than half of those ages 65 to 69 will have retired. Early Boomers, now numbering 36 million, have swelled the
55 to 64 age demographic more in the past decade than in the previous 30
years and made that group the largest it has ever been.

“This group of highly educated individuals is also apt to
find a welcoming employment market where their experience is desirable
and where employers will recognize that they do not require benefits
like health insurance due to their eligibility for Medicare,” said
Sandra Timmermann, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute, in
the press release. “The preponderance of white-collar workers in this
group will also make it easier for them to continue working.”

Key findings of the study include:

Over the next 10 years aging Early Boomers will result
in a 50% rise in the number of people 65 to 74 years old, a growth rate
for that cohort not seen in 50 years.

Early Boomer men ages 60 to 64 have the highest level of
educational attainment (37% college graduates) of any age group of men,
which means they are more likely to work after age 65.

There are 1.3 million more Early Boomer women than men.
It is projected that by 2020 there will be 2 million more Early Boomer
women than men. By then at least one-third of households ages 65 to 74
will be headed by women.

It is estimated that at least two-thirds of Early
Boomers are grandparents and the Census Bureau reports a rising number
are responsible for their grandchildren.

The labor force participation rate of Early Boomer men
and women is at a 15-year high (65.2%); trends suggest that it will rise
further in the future.

Among working Early Boomers, three-quarters of women and
three-fifths of men had white-collar jobs that paid more than other
jobs and were less physically demanding. That will facilitate more of
them staying in the workforce over the next decade.